So it’s Sunday again and here’s another sporadic Sunday update. Having finished my 2 land raiders I am back to painting some basic marines. I do sometimes struggle to motivate my self with troop choices, but I will get these done!

This week I have been focusing my painting on the 4th tactical squad from the 2nd company (numerical 4th squad, but the 5th to be added to the army) These are my ‘budget squad’ the Sgt is basic with no upgrades. They have Flamer and a heavy Bolter and weigh in at 150pts. I will use them when I a need to save points for something big. They are geared up for hordes and I think they will do ok as a basic troop choice in supporting other more expensive units. Also I am getting ready to add some fortifications to the army, some having a cheap unit to man the weapon systems is always use full.

Made from mixing a space marine tactical and assault squads with a few left over parts from both sternguard and vanguaurd kits. All have running legs, making the whole squad look like they are advancing to tack an objective.

I love the movement of this squad, but they are taking a while to get through. 7 are finished with the last few done next week if all goes well.

After the marines I am going to try to focus on my 2nd assault squad. The 4 basic marines needing a coat of paint! I struggle to find a way to get the best out of assault marines. I still can’t fathom why the can only take flamers and plasma pistols. Why not grav, meltas and plasma guns? These options would make them very useful and give the marines a great anti tank unit.

If I can keep the whole troop painting thing going then the 6th tactual squad will be after this. But let’s not count them till they are on the painting table.

Wow, it’s February already! My big build continues. Since last week I have had yet another change in plans. While it was my intention to get on with the sternguard, I have needed to get others done instead. Why? Well for once I have a good reason. I have a game coming up next Saturday, 15th February against lee Bedford, other wise known as @ratinabun on twitter.

Our game is 1500pts of 40k. His 1st Albion imperial guard will met the ultramarines, but not the 2nd company, but a new list form, a surgical strike team. Our games are always fun, and while I love to play anyone at 40k, I really look forward to games with lee. We have been friends for many years and we always have great games. They are always friendly and we both like to throw new things into the game. Though friendly, we are both competitive and want to win.

So I created a new lis that only 1 of my regular units in. The other 7 units are things I’d normally use as additional options rather than base a list around them. Sadly 1unit needs to be painted. I’d never use unpainted against lee. I’ll blog out the list next week along with a battle report. I know that he is painting new units and I believe this includes a unit of ogryn! I never, in 20+ years of gaming, faced these brutes, so this will be great fun! Also this week I assembled 2 other squads.

Unit 1- terminators.
I planned to use a full squad of 10 terminators, possibly broken into combat squads. With a heavy flamer and assault cannon, they should be able to make a mess of Lees big guard blob unit. I have had to paint up the last 4 terminators from thus squad. Made using regular marine and deathwing bits. I had bought 2 boxes of deathwing terminators and 1 box of assault terminators. Combining the 3 boxes I have 10 ornate assault terminators, 5 with thunder hammers, 5 with claws, a term librarian and 4 assault terminators.

The other 6 regular terminator were from the assault on black ride set. I was not overly happy with the sergeant he felt stiff and stilted, so I decide to repaint him. I replaced the arms and banner with new parts and I have added the cape from the deathwing terminators. I am really pleased with this now. The other 5 will be reprinted to give a coherent looking unit. This will be a stretch to get them done, but worth it. So far I have painted 5 of the 10. All will to be based and I can see me having a mad rush on Friday night to finish them off.

Whilst waiting for various bits to dry, I have assembled 2 other units, assault squad 2 and tactical squad 4. I needed some bots from eBay to finish both of these off and they arrived in the week.

assault marines
I only have 10 finished assault marines, squad 7 of 2nd company and I have assembled 1st half of the 2nd company assault squad. The new unit, squad 8, will be 10 strong in time, but for now, I only have the 1st 5. I made this unit using the standard box set, but added a few bits from the new veteran box sets, to add some varity.

I had used the legs from this kit on tactical squad 4, giving them a running pose. I added the legs from the vanguard box set and the crest from the sternguard to make the sergeant for this squad. It gives him an action pose that I quite like. Also in the unit are 2 plasma pistols. The new codex allow you to upgrade 2 marine to either flamer or plasma pistols, not, as in the older codex, 1 for every 5 marines. This means you can take 2 upgrades in a 5 man squads. Squad 7 has 2 flamers, so it made sense to have 2 plasma pistols.

Tactical squad 4
Squad 4 is one the 6 tactical squads in the battle company and I had the tactical squad to use to create them. I decided to make this squad look like they were running. To achieve this I used assault marine legs. The 1st half was done awhile ago, but the 2nd set of legs arrived so I got them assembled this week. I’ll talk more about these while I paint them soon.

So, that was last week. What’s next you ask? Well, I I’d answer, but knowing me it will change any way. I need to focus on the terminators and that is the goal. Next Saturday will be our game, so keep em peeled for the live tweet #battrep from us both and until the! see you all across the battle table.

Ozrax

I am an old Warhammer 40,000 warhorse. I have been painting and gaming since 1989 and this blog is about my adventures with a Paint Brush. I love my hobby and am always Pro hobby. I am the Cheerleader for the Miniature Monday on Twitter.